1968 Winter Olympics / Nordic skiing

Nordic skiing at the 1968 Winter Olympics
information
venue	Autrans-Méaudre en Vercors / Saint-Nizier-du-Moucherotte
Competition venue	Autrans Le Claret Dauphiné ski jump
Nations	25th
Athletes	253 (213 , 40 )
date	7-18 February 1968
decisions	10
← Innsbruck 1964 Sapporo 1972 →

At the X Olympic Winter Games in Grenoble in 1968 , ten competitions were held in Nordic skiing . These were also the 27th Nordic World Ski Championships . In addition to Olympic medals, world championship medals were also awarded. The only exception was the Nordic Combined, in which there were only Olympic medals. The venues were Autrans with the Le Claret ski jump and the provisional ski stadium south of the village and Saint-Nizier-du-Moucherotte with the Dauphiné ski jump .

For the first time, two German teams started at the Olympic Games . The Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR competed with their own team.

Balance sheet

Medal table

space	country				total
1	Norway	4th	2	2	8th
2	Sweden	2	2	1	5
3	Soviet Union	1	2	2	5
4th	Czechoslovakia	1	1	-	2
5	BR Germany	1	-	-	1
	Italy	1	-	-	1
7th	Finland	-	1	2	3
8th	Austria	-	1	1	2
	Switzerland	-	1	1	2
10	GDR	-	-	1	1

Medalist

Cross-country men

competitor	gold	silver	bronze
15 km	Harald Grønningen	Eero Mäntyranta	Gunnar Larsson
30 km	Franco Nones	Odd Martinsen	Eero Mäntyranta
50 km	Ole Ellefsæter	Vyacheslav Vedenin	Josef Haas
4 × 10 km relay	Ole Ellefsæter , Harald Grønningen , Odd Martinsen , Pål Tyldum	Bjarne Andersson , Jan Halvarsson , Gunnar Larsson , Assar Rönnlund	Kalevi Laurila , Eero Mäntyranta , Kalevi Oikarainen , Hannu Taipale

Cross-country women

competitor	gold	silver	bronze
5 km	Toini Gustafsson	Galina Kulakova	Alevtina Kolchina
10 km	Toini Gustafsson	Berit Mørdre	Inger Aufles
3 × 5 km relay	Inger Aufles , Babben Enger , Berit Mørdre	Toini Gustafsson , Barbro Martinsson , Britt Strandberg	Rita Achkina , Alewtina Kolchina , Galina Kulakowa

Ski jumping

competitor	gold	silver	bronze
Normal hill	Jiří Raška	Reinhold Bachler	Baldur Preiml
Large hill	Vladimir Belousov	Jiří Raška	Lars Grini

Nordic combination

competitor	gold	silver	bronze
singles	Franz Keller	Alois Kälin	Andreas Kunz

Cross-country men

15 km

Olympic Champion 1964 : Eero Mäntyranta (FIN) / World Champion 1966 : Gjermund Eggen (NOR).

space	country	athlete	Time (min)
1	NOR	Harald Grønningen	47: 54.2
2	FIN	Eero Mäntyranta	47: 56.1
3	SWE	Gunnar Larsson	48: 33.7
4th	FIN	Kalevi Laurila	48: 37.6
5	SWE	Jan Halvarsson	48: 39.1
6th	SWE	Bjarne Andersson	48: 41.1
7th	NOR	Pål Tyldum	52: 54.4
8th	NOR	Odd Martinsen	52: 58.8
9	URS	Valery Tarakanov	53: 10.7
10	FIN	Kalevi Oikarainen	53: 22.1
11	FRG	Walter Demel	49: 38.4
18th	SUI	Josef Haas	50: 34.8
19th	SUI	Florian Koch	50: 37.2
20th	FRG	Karl Buhl	50: 38.1
29	GDR	Gerhard Grimmer	51: 22.1
30th	SUI	Albert Giger	51: 26.6
31	AUT	Andreas Janc	51: 29.8
33	GDR	Dietmar Klause	51: 51.6
35	SUI	Konrad Hischier	52: 06.4
37	GDR	Peter Thiel	52: 07.8
38	FRG	Helmut Gerlach	52: 21.8
39	FRG	Klaus Ganter	52: 30.0
42	AUT	Heinrich Wallner	52: 53.6
47	AUT	Ernst Pühringer	53: 23.0
51	AUT	Walter Sailer	54: 12.5

Date: February 10, 1968, 8:30 a.m.
Difference in altitude: 214 m; Maximum ascent: 74 m; Total ascent: 490 m
75 participants from 25 countries, 72 of them in the rating.

The Norwegian Grønningen was the first of the favorites to tackle the route. Air temperatures just above freezing point had softened the trail a little, which gave the lower start numbers a slight advantage. The Finn Mäntyranta, who started later, was still behind Grønningen after 5 km, but had a lead of 9.6 seconds in the 10 km split. Grønningen was the fastest in the last 5 km, overtaking Mäntyranta and in the end had a lead of 1.9 seconds. The Swede Larsson was still in 6th place after 10 km, but was able to make up three places and won the bronze medal.

30 km

Olympic champion 1964 and world champion 1966 : Eero Mäntyranta (FIN).

space	country	athlete	Time (h)
1	ITA	Franco Nones	1: 35: 39.2
2	NOR	Odd Martinsen	1: 36: 28.9
3	FIN	Eero Mäntyranta	1: 36: 55.3
4th	URS	Vladimir Voronkov	1: 37: 10.8
5	ITA	Giulio Deflorian	1: 37: 12.9
6th	FIN	Kalevi Laurila	1: 37: 29.8
7th	FIN	Kalevi Oikarainen	1: 37: 34.4
8th	SWE	Gunnar Larsson	1: 37: 48.1
9	FRG	Walter Demel	1: 37: 49.2
10	URS	Anatoly Akentyev	1: 37: 52.4
15th	GDR	Gerhard Grimmer	1: 38: 46.0
19th	GDR	Gert-Dietmar Klause	1: 39: 30.5
28	SUI	Denis mast	1: 41: 58.8
30th	SUI	Konrad Hischier	1: 42: 26.1
31	FRG	Karl Buhl	1: 42: 52.2
32	SUI	Florian Koch	1: 43: 06.9
35	SUI	Fritz Stüssi	1: 43: 57.8
36	GDR	Axel Lesser	1: 44: 16.2
37	GDR	Helmut Unger	1: 44: 47.9
38	AUT	Ernst Pühringer	1: 44: 51.0
40	AUT	Franz Vetter	1: 45: 11.2
46	FRG	Herbert Loewe	1: 46: 31.2
48	FRG	Karl Scherzinger	1: 47: 08.7
50	AUT	Hansjörg color maker	1: 49: 43.3

Date: February 7, 1968, 8:30 a.m.
Difference in altitude: 275 m; Maximum ascent: 90 m; Total ascent: 990 m
66 participants from 22 countries, 63 of them in the rating.

The 30 km run was the first decision of these Winter Games, two loops of 10 and 20 km in length had to be covered. The favorites had consistently chosen back start numbers. The Italian customs officer Franco Nones soon had a considerable head start, but no one believed he would keep up this pace. He covered the first 10 km fastest and was 21.7 seconds ahead of Voronkow and 28.4 seconds ahead of Eero Mäntyranta. By the next split time at 20 km, the Finn was within 4.2 seconds of the Italian, while the Norwegian Odd Martinsen was already 32.3 seconds behind. It indicated a successful title defense by the Finn. But on the last, mostly downhill section, Nones was able to improve again: He again ran the clear best time and achieved the first Olympic victory for a cross-country skier from an Alpine country (and was the first non-Scandinavian gold medalist in an individual competition after the Soviet Union's relay had succeeded in 1956 to conquer the first ever gold from a country outside Scandinavia). Mäntyranta dismantled, Martinsen took almost a minute from him on the last section and advanced to second place.

50 km

Olympic Champion 1964 : Sixten Jernberg (SWE) / World Champion 1966 : Gjermund Eggen (NOR).

space	country	athlete	Time (h)
1	NOR	Ole Ellefsæter	2: 28: 45.8
2	URS	Vyacheslav Vedenin	2: 29: 05.5
3	SUI	Josef Haas	2: 29: 14.8
4th	NOR	Pål Tyldum	2: 29: 26.7
5	SWE	Melcher Risberg	2: 29: 37.0
6th	SWE	Gunnar Larsson	2: 29: 37.2
7th	SWE	Jan Halvarsson	2: 30: 05.9
8th	NOR	Reidar Hjermstad	2: 31: 01.8
9	FRG	Walter Demel	2: 31: 14.4
10	SWE	Assar Rönnlund	2: 31: 19.3
13	AUT	Andreas Janc	2: 32: 32.2
23	SUI	Alois Kälin	2: 36: 40.8
25th	GDR	Gert-Dietmar Klause	2: 36: 52.5
33	FRG	Helmut Gerlach	2: 41: 55.8
34	AUT	Franz Vetter	2: 43: 51.1
37	SUI	Franz Kälin	2: 44: 29.7
43	FRG	Siegfried Weiss	2: 46: 53.4

Date: February 17, 1968, 8:30 a.m.
Difference in altitude: 248 m; Maximum ascent: 70 m; Total ascent: 1480 m
51 participants from 18 countries, 47 of them in the rating.

Two laps with a length of 25 km had to be covered. The Norwegian Reidar Hjermsted was in the lead at 15 km, followed by his compatriot Ole Ellefsæter and the Swede Assar Rönnlund. Halfway through the distance, Ellefsæter took the lead, while Hjermsted and Rönnlund fell far behind. At 40 km, Pål Tyldum came within 40 seconds of Ellefsæter and was now in second place; The Russian Vyacheslav Vedenin was only a little slower. This was able to overtake Tyldum and won the silver medal. Josef Haas, who was 12th after 15 km, ran a clear best time on the last section, improved to 3rd place and won the first Olympic cross-country medal for Switzerland.

The Norwegians were the big winners of the cross-country skiing competitions. During the 50 km, the runners were lucky with the weather: sunny weather, fast track. Ellefsæter had launched its major attack after about 19 kilometers. The Norwegians weren't particularly surprised by his victory, they knew that he was the best 50 km runner. Although Hjermstad was in the lead for the time being, Ellefsæter got faster and faster, taking the steep, fast descents effortlessly; his winning time was the fastest time ever over 50 km.
The performances of the Swedes and Finns were disappointing, whose aces almost always suffered weaknesses during the race and had no chance of victory.
The Austrians only had two runners at the start. Andreas Janc ran despite an unfavorable start number. 1 an enjoyable race that not even the most daring optimists had expected from him. He left numerous aces, including Mäntyranta (with 20 seconds), Martinsen, and Akentjew behind. After 15 km he was in 18th place, climbed 25th kilometer to 15th and was able to move up to 13th with a strong finish, an achievement not seen since 1948 ( Josl Gstrein with 12th place).

4 × 10 km relay

Olympic Champion 1964 : SWE ( Karl-Åke Asph , Sixten Jernberg , Janne Stefansson , Assar Rönnlund ) / World Champion 1966 : NOR ( Odd Martinsen , Harald Grønningen , Ole Ellefsæter , Gjermund Eggen ).

space	Country / athlete	time
1	Norway Odd Martinsen Pål Tyldum Harald Grønningen Ole Ellefsæter	2:08 : 33.5 h 31: 57.3 min 32: 13.8 min 32: 05.2 min 32: 17.2 min
2	Sweden Jan Halvarsson Bjarne Andersson Gunnar Larsson Assar Rönnlund	2:10:13.2 h 32: 37.0 min 32: 26.4 min 32: 24.4 min 32: 45.4 min
3	Finland Kalevi Oikarainen Hannu Taipale Kalevi Laurila Eero Mäntyranta	2: 10: 56.7 h 33: 00.7 min 33: 16.0 min 32: 16.3 min 32: 23.7 min
4th	Soviet Union Vladimir Voronkov Anatoly Akentjew Valery Tarakanov Vyacheslav Vedenin	2:10: 57.2 h 32: 38.4 min 32: 32.5 min 32: 56.4 min 32: 49.9 min
5	Switzerland Konrad Hischier Josef Haas Florian Koch Alois Kälin	2:15: 32.4 h 34: 27.1 min 33: 02.2 min 33: 45.9 min 34: 17.2 min
6th	Italy Giulio Deflorian Franco Nones Palmiro Serafini Aldo Stella	2: 16: 32.2 h 34: 58.4 min 33: 55.6 min 34: 09.9 min 33: 28.3 min
7th	GDR Gerhard Grimmer Axel Lesser Peter Thiel Gert-Dietmar Klause	2:19 : 22.8 h 33: 52.1 min 34: 00.3 min 36: 46.5 min 34: 43.9 min
8th	BR Germany Helmut Gerlach Walter Demel Herbert Steinbeißer Karl Buhl	2:19: 37.6 h 34: 53.5 min 33: 42.2 min 35: 27.1 min 35: 34.8 min
13	Austria Heinrich Wallner Franz Vetter Ernst Pühringer Andreas Janc	2:22: 29.4 h 35: 42.2 min 35: 02.6 min 36: 25.2 min 35: 19.4 min

Date: February 14, 1968, 8:30 a.m.
Difference in altitude: 174 m; Maximum ascent: 65 m; Total ascent: 420 m
15 relays at the start, all in the ranking.

In this mass start race, the Norwegian Odd Martinsen covered the first section fastest. He was 39.7 seconds faster than the Swede Jan Halvarsson, the Russian Vladimir Voronkow lost 41.1 seconds. The second Norwegian runner, Pål Tyldum, also ran his section the fastest: Halfway through the race, the Norwegians were already 52.3 seconds ahead, so it was clear that they would win, which Sweden was only concerned with Hold rank 2. Harald Grønningen increased the Norwegians' lead on the third lap to 71.5 seconds and last runner Ole Ellefsæter to 1: 39.7 minutes. The Swedes secured the silver medal in a similarly clear manner. The Finnish final runner Eero Mäntyranta caught up with the Russian Vyacheslav Vedenin and on the home straight they both fought an exciting duel, which the Finn won with a half-second advantage.
Austria's starting runner Heinrich Wallner did not divide his forces properly due to lack of routine, initially ran with the aces and overwhelmed himself.

Cross-country women

5 km

Olympic champion 1964 : Klawdija Bojarskich (URS) (career ended) / World champion 1966 : Alewtina Kolchina (URS).

space	country	sportswoman	Time (min)
1	SWE	Toini Gustafsson	16: 45.2
2	URS	Galina Kulakova	16: 48.4
3	URS	Alevtina Kolchina	16: 51.6
4th	SWE	Barbro Martinsson	16: 52.9
5	FIN	Marjatta Kajosmaa	16: 54.6
6th	URS	Rita Achkina	16: 55.1
7th	NOR	Inger Aufles	16: 58.1
8th	FIN	Senja Pusula	17: 00.3
9	POLE	Stefania Biegun	17: 03.4
00	NOR	Berit Mørdre	17: 11.9
12	GDR	Christine Nestler	17: 23.5
13	GDR	Gudrun Schmidt	17: 24.3
14th	GDR	Renate Koehler	17: 25.5
16	GDR	Anna Unger	17: 30.7
17th	FRG	Monika Mrklas	17: 32.5
25th	GDR	Michaela Endler	17: 59.2
29	GDR	Barbara Barthel	18: 20.0

Date: February 13, 1968, 9:00 a.m.
Difference in altitude: 100 m; Maximum ascent: 65 m; Total ascent: 170 m
34 participants from 11 countries, all in the rating.

10 km

Olympic champion in 1964 and world champion in 1966 : Klawdija Bojarskich (URS) (career ended).

space	country	sportswoman	Time (min)
1	SWE	Toini Gustafsson	36: 45.5
2	NOR	Berit Mørdre	37: 54.6
3	NOR	Inger Aufles	37: 59.9
4th	SWE	Barbro Martinsson	38: 07.1
5	FIN	Marjatta Kajosmaa	38: 09.0
6th	URS	Galina Kulakova	38: 26.7
7th	URS	Alevtina Kolchina	38: 52.9
8th	NOR	Babben narrow	38: 54.4
9	GDR	Christine Nestler	39: 07.9
10	SWE	Barbro Tano	39: 09.6
14th	GDR	Gudrun Schmidt	39: 22.8
16	GDR	Renate Koehler	39: 27.4
20th	FRG	Monika Mrklas	39: 58.2
22nd	GDR	Anna Unger	40: 36.8
26th	FRG	Michaela Endler	41: 01.1

Date: February 9, 1968, 9:00 a.m.
Difference in altitude: 139 m; Maximum ascent: 70 m; Total ascent: 320 m
34 participants from 11 countries, 32 of them in the rating.

Gustafsson had already shown good performance in training so her win came as no surprise. The soft snow conditions became a wax issue. Gustafsson sprinted away with a powerful, masculine style that she had acquired during training with her husband Assar Rönnlund, climbed inclines effortlessly and descended the descents with constant use of poles. At 5 kilometers she left the competition behind by 9 seconds, but she improved even more. For the first time since the Oslo Olympics in 1952 (when the Soviet Union did not yet take part), no female Soviet runner made it into the medal ranks.

3 × 5 km relay

Olympic champions 1964 : URS ( Alewtina Kolchina , Jewdokija Mekschilo (career ended), Klawdija Boyarskich (career ended)) / World champions 1966 : URS ( Klawdija Boyarskich (career ended), Rita Achkina , Alewtina Kolchina ).

space	Country / athletes	time
1	Norway Inger Aufles Babben Enger Berit Mørdre	57: 30.0 min 19: 08.0 min 19: 19.5 min 19: 02.5 min
2	Sweden Britt Strandberg Toini Gustafsson Barbro Martinsson	57: 51.0 min 19: 46.7 min 18: 56.7 min 19: 07.6 min
3	Soviet Union Alewtina Kolchina Rita Achkina Galina Kulakova	58: 13.6 min 19: 32.8 min 19: 31.2 min 19: 09.6 min
4th	Finland Senja Pusula Marjatta Olkkonen Marjatta Kajosmaa	58: 45.1 min 19: 32.4 min 19: 51.6 min 19: 21.1 min
5	Poland Weronika Budna Józefa Czerniawska Stefania Biegun	59: 04.7 min 19: 33.8 min 19: 59.1 min 19: 31.8 min
6th	GDR Renate Koehler Gudrun Schmidt Christine Nestler	59: 33.9 min 20:01.6 min 19: 27.3 min 20:05.0 min
7th	BR Germany Michaela Endler Barbara Barthel Monika Mrklas	61: 49.3 min 20: 11.4 min 21: 14.2 min 20: 23.7 min
8th	Bulgaria Welitschka Pandewa Nadeschda Wassilewa Zwetana Sotirowa	65: 35.7 min 21: 50.4 min 21: 07.5 min 22: 37.8 min

Date: February 16, 8:45 a.m.
Difference in altitude: 139 m
Total ascent: 320 m
Maximum ascent: 70 m

Eight relays with three runners each took part. In damp and foggy weather on an exhausting trail, the Norwegian Inger Aufles was the fastest on the first section and got a lead of almost 25 seconds over the almost simultaneous Finns, Russians and Poles, about ten seconds behind Sweden followed in fifth place. With the best individual performance of all runners, Toini Gustafsson, who had to catch up by 40 seconds, overtook three of the runners in front of her and came within 16 seconds of the leading Enger. In the second section, the Swedes were in second place, followed by the Russians. In the last section nothing changed in the first three positions, because Martinsson was not up to Mørdre and the Norwegian was even able to extend her lead. In the overall conclusion of the women's competitions, the disappointing performance of the Soviet runners was evident, who had been hard to beat in Innsbruck four years ago and had to be content with one silver and two bronze medals.

Ski jumping

Normal hill

Olympic Champion 1964 : Toralf Engan (NOR) (career ended) / World Champion 1966 : Bjørn Wirkola (NOR).

space	country	athlete	Widths (m)	Points
1	TCH	Jiří Raška	79.0 / 72.5	216.5
2	AUT	Reinhold Bachler	77.5 / 76.0	214.2
3	AUT	Baldur Preiml	80.0 / 72.5	212.6
4th	NOR	Bjørn Wirkola	76.5 / 72.5	212.0
5	FIN	Topi Mattila	78.0 / 72.5	211.9
6th	URS	Anatoly Scheglanov	79.5 / 74.5	211.5
7th	GDR	Dieter Neuendorf	76.5 / 73.0	211.3
8th	URS	Vladimir Belousov	73.5 / 73.0	207.5
8th	TCH	Ladislav Divila	76.5 / 73.0	207.3
10	FRG	Günther Göllner	77.0 / 70.5	207.1
14th	GDR	Manfred Queck	75.5 / 72.5	205.4
20th	GDR	Wolfgang Stöhr	73.5 / 71.0	199.3
22nd	FRG	Heini Ihle	75.5 / 70.0	197.4
28	FRG	Henrik Ohlmeyer	75.0 / 67.5	193.6
29	AUT	Sepp Lichtenegger	72.5 / 70.0	193.1
36	AUT	Max Golser	74.0 / 65.0	186.0
52	SUI	Sepp Zehnder	73.5 / 67.5	154.2
54	GDR	Bernd Karwofsky	72.0 / 67.0	151.5

Date: February 11th, 1:00 p.m.
Hill: Le Claret (Autrans); K point : 70 m
58 participants from 17 countries, all in the rating.

The longest jump per round was rated with 60 points, plus a maximum of 60 points for the jump style. The lowest and highest scores of the five referees were deleted results . A maximum of 240 points could be achieved.

Only one of the favorites, Jiří Raška, lived up to expectations. After the first jump, there were small gaps. Raska had a score of 115.2 ahead of Preiml 113.8, Mattila 111.1, Scheglanow 110.0 and Wirkola and Neuendorf with 108.7 each. Preiml achieved the best distance ever with 80 m in the first round, but Raška got the better grades for his 79.5 m; Bachler was in 8th place.
The run-up was shortened for the second run. (The widths were not insignificantly reduced.) Preiml did not catch the track well (he had gotten into the slowest of three tracks and had also missed the right jump), his 72.5 m ultimately made him fall back on the bronze place (in a row of the second round he only came 19th with 98.8 points). Bachler jumped to 76.0 m, for which he received 106.4 points and not only took first place in the second round, but also advanced to first place in the process of jumping. Only Raška was unbeatable; he again made a clean jump (72.5 m), for which he was awarded 101.3 points (although this mark meant "only" 8th place in the second round, but it was enough for success). Nevertheless, the result of the Austrians with two medals was a surprise in view of the other dominance of other nations, although on the other hand Max Golser had attracted attention with a jump to as much as 82.0 m in training. The reigning double world champion Wirkola jumped 76.5 m and 72.5 m, so that here as well as later on the large hill he was without a medal.

After the trial run there was a triple Austrian tour with Preiml (78.0 m), Bachler (75.5 m) and Golser (74 m).

58 participants from 17 countries, all in the ranking.

Large hill

Olympic Champion 1964 : Veikko Kankkonen (FIN) / World Champion 1966 : Bjørn Wirkola (NOR).

space	country	athlete	Widths (m)	Points
1	URS	Vladimir Belousov	101.5 / 98.5	231.3
2	TCH	Jiří Raška	101.0 / 98.0	229.4
3	NOR	Lars Grini	99.0 / 93.5	214.3
4th	GDR	Manfred Queck	96.5 / 98.5	212.8
5	NOR	Bent Tomtum	98.5 / 95.0	212.2
6th	AUT	Reinhold Bachler	98.5 / 95.0	201.7
7th	GDR	Wolfgang Stöhr	96.5 / 92.5	205.9
8th	URS	Anatoly Scheglanov	99.0 / 92.0	205.7
9	YUG	Ludvik Zajc	96.5 / 93.5	203.8
10	FRA	Gilbert Poirot	97.0 / 94.0	203.7
15th	GDR	Dieter Neuendorf	93.0 / 92.0	198.8
22nd	AUT	Max Golser	95.0 / 91.5	190.4
28	AUT	Sepp Lichtenegger	91.0 / 91.0	184.6
29	FRG	Günther Göllner	93.0 / 85.0	183.5
33	FRG	Henrik Ohlmeyer	90.5 / 86.0	177.9
36	FRG	Franz Keller	90.5 / 84.0	174.1
46	FRG	Heini Ihle	82.0 / 84.5	156.4
47	SUI	Sepp Zehnder	84.0 / 79.5	153.2
48	AUT	Baldur Preiml	80.5 / 87.0	152.3

Date: February 18, 1:00 p.m.
Schanze: Dauphiné (Saint-Nizier-du-Moucherotte); K point: 90 m
58 participants from 17 countries, all in the ranking.

The scoring system was the same as on the normal hill with a maximum of 240 points. Belousov achieved the best distance in both rounds.

Since there had been no training on February 16 because of the fog, it was even considered to hold the competition one day after the scheduled end of the games, i.e. on February 19. There was also a mistake by the organizer when he announced the trial run as the first competition run (here the Austrians Bachler (101.5 m) and Preiml (98.0 m) jumped the furthest). In fact, the trial run would only have counted if a competition run had been canceled.

Belousov was the first Soviet athlete to win an Olympic medal in special jumping. He was considered an outsider by most, but he had won the qualifying competition of the Soviet jumping elite and also defeated Raška in two previous competitions. He was already the best in the trial run, ahead of Wirkola and Bachler, who could not confirm their performance. Veikko Kankkonen jumped just as badly.

For his first jump Belousov received 118.0 points, Raška 116.3, in between was the Japanese Takashi Fujisawa, who had been awarded 116.8 points. In the second round (with a shortened run-up) Raška made the longest jump of the medal contenders with 98 meters, but Belousov was still half a meter better. The only one who could still have won gold was Fujisawa, who now missed the jump, was just able to prevent a fall and fell back to 18th place. The Japanese had got off well, but got over air and had to break off the jump prematurely. The big losers were the Northerners, despite bronze for Lars Grini and 5th place for Bent Tomtum, because 23rd place for Wirkola and 24th for Olympic champion Kankkonen represented a heavy defeat from their point of view. With the Austrians, the performances of Golser and Lichtenegger corresponded to expectations ; Bachler was able to improve from 8th to 6th place. Preiml completely screwed up the first jump (55th place).

Nordic combination

Olympic Champion 1964 : Tormod Knutsen (NOR) (career ended) / World Champion 1966 Georg Thoma (FRG) (only active in fun runs).

space	country	athlete	Points jumping	Points running	Points totel
1	FRG	Franz Keller	240.1	208.94	449.04
2	SUI	Alois Kälin	193.2	254.79	447.99
3	GDR	Andreas Kunz	216.9	227.20	444.10
4th	TCH	Tomáš Kučera	217.4	216.74	434.14
5	ITA	Ezio Damolin	206.0	223.54	429.54
6th	POLE	Józef Gąsienica	217.7	211.08	428.78
7th	URS	Robert Makara	222.8	204.12	426.92
8th	URS	Vyacheslav Drjagin	222.8	201.58	424.38
9	GDR	Roland Weißpflog	186.3	238.00	424.30
10	JPN	Hiroshi Itagaki	237.4	177.25	414.65
11	GDR	Karl-Heinz Luck	198.8	215.22	414.02
14th	FRG	Gunter Naumann	190.0	220.89	410.89
25th	FRG	Alfred Winkler	192.8	188.79	381.59
29	FRG	Hans Rudhart	195.4	179.34	374.74
32	AUT	Ulrich Öhlböck	168.8	189.20	358.00
34	AUT	Waldemar Heigenhauser	197.2	159.49	356.69
35	AUT	Helmut Voggenberger	181.9	160.07	341.97

Ski jumping: February 10th, 1:00 p.m.
Hill: Le Claret (Autrans); K point: 70 m

Cross-country skiing 15 km: February 12th, 9:00 am
Elevation difference: 275 m; Maximum ascent: 70 m; Total ascent: 470 m
41 participants from 13 countries, all in the rating.

Each athlete had three attempts at jumping, of which the two best were included in the rating. The points were determined by adding the five best widths of a run and dividing by 5. Depending on their distance, the competitors received a rating below or above this mean. A gap of 12 points meant that exactly one minute had to be caught up in the 15 km cross-country skiing. After the jumping, Franz Keller was in the lead, co-favorite Alois Kälin was in 24th place and had to make up a gap of three and a half minutes on the trail. Kälin ran the best time by far, but at the end of the race, Keller was 1.05 points or around six seconds ahead.
Result jumping: 1st basement 240.1 (73.0 / 77.5 m); 2. Hiroshi Itagaki (JPN) 237.4 (73.5 / 76.0 m); 3. Fiedor (POL) 234.3 (74.0 / 74.0 m); 4th Taniguchi (JPN) 224.4 (73.0 / 72.5 m), 5th ex aequo Wiaczesław DriaginDriagin (71.5 / 74.5 m) & Makara (URS) (72.5 / 74 m) 222 ,8th; 7. Andersen (NOR) 221.2 (72.5 / 72.5 m); 8. Gąsienica (POL) 217.7 (72.5 / 71.5 m); 9. Kučera (ČSSR) 217.4 (72.0 / 73.0), 10. Kunz (GDR) 216.9 (72.5 / 74 m); furthermore 21. Heigenhauser; 32. Voggenberger; 35. Öhlböck
For the northerners there was a serious setback; 21st place for Mikkel Dobloug (NOR), something like this had never happened in the history of Nordic combined. Franz Keller won the first gold medal for the FRG at these games.

Web links

• Cross-country skiing at the 1968 Winter Olympics in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Ski jumping at the 1968 Winter Olympics in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Nordic combined at the 1968 Winter Olympics in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Official report of the 1968 Winter Olympics (PDF; 19.4 MB)

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Mäntyranta was no match for Nones" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 8, 1968, p. 11 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
2. ↑ "Elefsäter won over 50 kilometers" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 18, 1968, p. 13 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
3. ^ "Kronen-Zeitung Wien" of February 18, 1968
4. ↑ «Norwegian won the ski marathon. Andreas Janc ran very well »; "Kleine Zeitung", Styria edition of February 18, 1968, page 24
5. ↑ «Scandinavian relay triumph» . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 15, 1968, p. 13 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
6. ↑ «Scandinavians reciprocated» . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 10, 1968, p. 13 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
7. ↑ 1968 Winter Olympics, result 3 × 5 km relay women on the official website of the IOC
8. ↑ below right: «Gustafsson failed to third gold»; Kleine Zeitung , Styria edition of February 17, 1968, page 21
9. ^ "This time only silver for Gustafsson" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 17, 1968, p. 13 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
10. ↑ "Russinnen dethronted" in "Sport Zurich" No. 23 of February 19, 1968, p. 18; POS .: Column 5, penultimate heading
11. ^ «Golser jumped 82 meters» POS .: Column 5, above . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 11, 1968, p. 13 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
12. ^ "The unexpected medals from Autrans" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 13, 1968, p. 11 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
13. ^ "Silver for Bachler, Bronze for Preiml" in "Welt und Sport" (= Monday edition of the "Volkszeitung Kärnten") No. 1049 of February 12, 1968, page 1
14. ^ «Jumper threatens to be postponed» . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 17, 1968, p. 14 ( Arbeiter-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
15. ↑ «The Outsider Who Never Was» . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 20, 1968, p. 14 ( Arbeiter-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
16. ↑ «Revolution of the Springer: ¸King 'Wirkola abdicated. Young Russian triumphed - Bachler weaker »; Kleine Zeitung , Styria edition of February 20, 1968, page 31
17. ^ "With Bachler and Preiml only the trial run worked - Russians victory"; Kronen-Zeitung Vienna from February 19, 1968
18. ↑ “Young Russian distanced world elite” in Welt und Sport (= Monday edition of the People's newspaper Kärnten) No. 1050 of February 19, 1968, page 2.
19. ↑ Combination jumping . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 11, 1968, p. 13 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
20. ↑ «Keller is the best combiner» . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 13, 1968, p. 13 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).